Fantômette aux bains-douches
Fantômette aux bains-douches is part of Arnaud Labelle-Rojoux’s effort to step away from artistic conventions. For him, the creative process and the reflection that accompanies it take precedence over the finished work. With childlike freedom, a small anthropomorphic sculpture is half-covered by a towel. The viewer is free to imagine the subject of this concealment. Fantômette, the heroine of the Bibliothèque Rose collection whose adventures were published for fifty years, is a nod to childhood that everyone can understand. Arnaud Labelle-Rojoux mocks the classical statuary of the naked woman in the bath by replacing it with a child’s character in the public baths. This work allows him to attack the preconceived ideas and clichés of classical art by drawing on collective cultural memory, anecdote, and popular imagery.
Text written by Manon Prévost-Van Dooren as part of the partnership between the École du Louvre and Lafayette Anticipations – Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin.
Exhibition
La Galerie des Galeries, Paris (France)
from 14 Oct 2010 to 08 Jan 2011